Lowes Travels

Jan 19 to 26

Our desire to visit the Big Island of Hawaii finally happened. When you think of the Big Island, what comes to mind may be the Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, especially now that the Volcano has been active lately (Kilauea Volcano Eruption Episode 41 happened while we were there and Episode 42 was ongoing). But there is much more to this island than its volcanoes, and I created a busy itinerary we would try to cover during our 1-week stay. I split our fun adventures into two blog posts, so stay tuned!

Hawaii is the name of the island state comprising 137 volcanic islands, while the Island of Hawai’i is one of the eight main islands of the Hawaiian chain also known as the Big Island. It’s the largest and youngest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, roughly twice the size of all the other Hawaiian Islands combined. So the Big Island is officially the Island of Hawai’i, in the county of Hawaii, and in the state of Hawaii. I must define the names and spellings because it was a bit confusing until we got here 😉

Arriving at our condo, we immediately had a whale of a show from our patio. A warm welcome and a sign of great days ahead! They were far away, but fortunately our Airbnb hosts had provided us with binoculars. Steve also saw several dozen flying fish jump out of the water, but I didn’t get there in time to see them 🙁

When planning our itinerary, we realized how large the island is, based on the drive times needed to explore it. There’s a varied landscape, featuring black sand beaches, rainforests, volcanic deserts and snowcapped peaks. Visiting these areas required a lot of time in our rental car, where we accrued over 750 miles! We arranged our daily drives to spend more time enjoying the stops rather than just passing by. Our home base was in Kailua-Kona, on the southwest area of the island:

Impressive diverse scenery

As we drove around the island, we realized it offered more than just some famous beaches. Considering its size, it was easy to navigate. We saw lava fields, then lush valleys and green landscapes followed with sprawling ranches and tropical jungles. This variety of environments and scenery is what makes the Big Island unique compared to our previous visits to Maui, Kauai and Oahu. Here are just a few drive-by captures of our explorations:

Beautiful tropical beaches

And of course, the beaches. There are many, but we could check out only a few of them. The Big Island has more varied and picturesque beaches as compared to the other islands, thanks to its volcanoes. We are not beach bums, but we do love to breathe the ocean breezes, dip our toes in the warm cerulean waters, walk on the beach and do my touch-the-water rituals. From white sand to black sand (and a few other colors in between), we saw first-hand how volcanic activity has shaped and influenced the beauty of this island’s shores:

Located on the southeastern Kaʻū coast, Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach is one of the most famous black sand beaches in Hawaiʻi. It is the result of what happens when super-heated basaltic lava hits the ocean water – it cools rapidly and eventually becomes sand as a result of being broken down by the pounding waves.

In this clip you can see jet black shores of volcanic ash sand amongst coconut palms on the shoreline, a pretty scene:

The largest white sand beach on the island of Hawaiʻi, is at Hapuna State Recreation Area. This world-renowned beach has an expansive sandy shoreline, and one we thought we could have spent more time on to swim in the ocean:

The island’s waterfalls

This island is diverse in both landscape and climate. We were based in Kona, which was located on the western side where it was warm and dry with stunning sunsets. But the big waterfalls are on the the east side, near the town of Hilo where the runoff from heavy rains on the slopes of the Mauna Kea Volcano occur. Even though we have seen many waterfalls of various heights and volumes during our travels, we always find them beautiful. We spent a night in Volcano (yes, that’s a town) to make the most of our visit to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (more on that in my next post), and visited the waterfalls along the way. It was a 2-hour plus drive one way from our home base in Kona to the eastern side of the island:

And just a short walk from these falls was one main, massive, and highly notable, ancient banyan tree. This monstrosity feeds on other nearby trees and is estimated to be some 600 years old:

Twenty miles north of Hilo is another waterfall beauty. This one is accessed through a lush tropical garden and a young rain forest:

The drive along Hamakua Coast on the northeast side of the island was where we came across these waterfalls, and on this side of the island we also enjoyed dramatic views of sea cliffs and green valleys. One “must see” is at the Waipi’o Valley Lookout, where we viewed 2000′ sea cliffs and green valleys with black sand beaches:

Flowers and sunsets

Being a tropical paradise, flowers abound here and add a colorful ambiance. It always brings a smile and joy (at least to me):

Where we stayed in Kailua-Kona (west side) was the perfect spot for sunsets, whale watching and listening to the crashing waves:

This is getting lengthy but there’s more to tell. Don’t miss our next post!

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Next up: Volcanoes, Kona Coffee and Hanging Out With Manta Rays!